MOTORBIKE rider Luke Hedger narrowly missed out on the podium in a storming opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike at Oulton Park.

Hedger overcame a crash in practice and a hesitant start to finish fourth on the day, writes Camilla Davina Temple-Court.

The final test was hosted at Oulton Park only a few weeks previously so the JDR team mechanical crew had multiple opportunities that day to change settings which were all working perfectly.

Managing nine laps in practice he tipped off at Knickerbrook right hander.

That meant that for practice two the Jones Dorling Racing team and Hedger’s mechanic, father, Lee Hedger had to get to work mending the damage and therefore had to withdraw from the session which was a wet practice session.

With things running smoothly again, Hedger got back on the bike and qualified in a second row grid position for the Sunday afternoon race.

Hedger got swallowed up on the opening corner of the race leaving him a lot of work to do, then the officials gave him a long lap adding to the drama for a false start. Having moved back several places, Hedger was determined and ruthless, moving back up through the pack.

However, he pulled through the pack moving up to fifth place and battling with 2020 champion Chrissy Rouse.

Rouse made a mistake under pressure and tipped the front on the last corner allowing Hedger to grab fourth on as he took the chequered flag.

With 13 points collected from this round, Hedger will progress to the next round (Knockhill), 4th in the championship.

“The weekend was very good from practice to race day," said Hedger.

"We had very strong pace, unfortunately we just didn’t have much luck on race day with a slow start and a long lap penalty.

"We missed out on the podium but still a fourth place finish is still very good and very strong for the championship!

"Thanks again to my whole team JDR for the super hard work over the weekend. I am more motivated now to get to Knockhill and get on that podium!”

Team manager, Tom Jones added: “The first round proved to us that the winter preparation and testing definitely paid off!

"All 3 riders were working well together and on track. "An unfortunate off for Luke in practice gave us some work to do but a huge credit to the team for working flawlessly to get Luke’s bike back together so efficiently.

"A fantastic 4th place result."